WASHINGTON – Alliance Defending Freedom made public Wednesday its latest annual report to Congress that identifies waste, abuse, and potential fraud by Planned Parenthood, state family planning programs, and other organizations. As in 2013 and previous years, the report urges Congress to continue its investigation into the misuse of taxpayer dollars.

“The government should use American tax dollars responsibly and for the common good. The taxpayers who provide that hard-earned money deserve to know if it’s being funneled to groups that are abusing it,” said ADF Litigation Counsel Catherine Glenn Foster. “When it comes to accountability and transparency, Planned Parenthood’s publicly-funded, billion-dollar abortion empire cannot be given a pass. It has to play by the same rules as everyone else.”

The updated report, titled “Profit. No Matter What,” explains that “Planned Parenthood and its affiliates are engaged in a pattern of practices designed to maximize their bottom-line revenues through billings to complex, well-funded federal and state programs that are understaffed and rely on the integrity of the provider for program compliance.”

The report details the 44 known audits or other reviews of Planned Parenthood affiliates’ financial data and practices, as well as 51 known audits of state family planning programs and three known audits of family planning organizations that found overbilling. The audits for fiscal year 2013 found a total of more than $115 million in waste, abuse, and potential fraud in federal and state family planning funding programs, the lion’s share of which goes to Planned Parenthood. Approximately $14.4 billion of federal Medicaid expenditures were improper payments, according to government sources.

The report also identifies 10 types of waste, abuse, and potential fraud Planned Parenthood affiliates have been found to be committing or have been credibly accused of nationwide. The potential fraud includes the illegal practice of billing and being reimbursed by Title XIX agencies for medications and/or services provided in connection with an abortion.

Other alleged billing violations include billing in excess of actual acquisition cost or other statutorily approved costs for contraceptives and Plan B products, inappropriately billing for services that were not medically necessary, billing for multiple initial prenatal care visits, and incorrectly billing initial, follow-up, and postpartum services.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.

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ABOUT Catherine Glenn Foster

Catherine Glenn Foster serves as litigation counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, where she is a key member of the Center for Life. Foster earned her J.D. at Georgetown University Law Center and also holds a M.A. in French from the University of South Florida and a B.A. in History and French from Berry College. She is also a Blackstone Fellow. Foster is admitted to the bar in Virginia, the Eastern District of Virginia, and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 1st, 5th, 8th, and 9th Circuits.